Author: Elena Sorokina

STATEMENT: WMATA General Manager Paul Wiedefeld’s ‘New Business Model’ proposal

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 20, 2017

CONTACT
Stewart Schwartz, Coalition for Smarter Growth
(703) 599-6437
stewart@smartergrowth.net

Statement on WMATA General Manager Paul Wiedefeld’s ‘New Business Model’ proposal

WASHINGTON DC – WMATA General Manager Paul Wiedefeld released a proposal for a ‘new business model’ for Metro on Wednesday afternoon, to address operating costs and the $15.5 billion needed over the next 10 years for capital investments to make sure the system “remains safe and reliable.” Stewart Schwartz, the Executive Director of the pro-transit regional Coalition for Smarter Growth, responded to General Manager Wiedefeld’s proposal in the following statement:

“We have a lot of respect for the General Manager and his leadership. The General Manager’s plan is the best we’ve seen to date. His statement is bluntly honest about the situation and we generally endorse his proposals — although we will need more information about some of them.

General Manager Wiedefeld is providing critical recommendations for evaluation by the LaHood panel, which represents our best opportunity to develop shared facts and understanding about the challenges and best fixes for the system in time for legislative action on funding next year.

To be clear, General Manager Wiedefeld confirms that even with these major reforms, Metro needs additional revenue for both operating costs and capital needs. Metro is the backbone of our transportation network and regional economy, and as such, merits the funding needed to fully restore the system. For too long, our elected officials haven’t made Metro’s state of good repair needs a priority – year after year approving a regional transportation plan without fully funding Metro capital needs.

We hope that the unions will be full partners in the effort to fix WMATA and address rising costs. They know the system from the ground up and can offer much, but like riders and taxpayers, they too have to contribute to fixing the financial challenges facing the system.

We disagree with those who propose opening the compact which risks political gridlock and diverts the focus from the fixes we can do now and from the agreement we need to reach on dedicated funding. We agree with the General Manager and others who say that many reforms are possible without opening the compact.

We don’t think a control board, such as has been proposed by the Federal City Council, is necessary. Nor would major WMATA Board of Director restructuring be necessary to address the core operating and capital issues. A restructured board would still be responsible to the funding jurisdictions,” Schwartz concluded.

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth
The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading nonprofit organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. With 24,000 supporters across the DC region, its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

###

RELEASE: Tomorrow’s affordable housing crisis can be avoided with a permanent affordability commitment today

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

March 22, 2017

CONTACT
Cheryl Cort, Policy Director
202-251-7516 (c)
cheryl@smartergrowth.net

Tomorrow’s affordable housing crisis can be avoided with a permanent affordability commitment today

Washington, DC — Today the Coalition for Smarter Growth released a report [PDF] demonstrating how the District of Columbia could stretch its investments in affordable housing and avoid future crises in expiring use restrictions by establishing an in perpetuity affordability commitment in exchange for public dollars.

“The city of Boston has been doing this successfully for decades. It requires that any city investment in affordable rental housing comes with a commitment to make that affordability permanent. DC has similar opportunities since it too is a high cost, strong market city,” said Cheryl Cort, Policy Director at the Coalition for Smarter Growth, and author of the report.

The report recommends that the District applies a permanent affordability requirement in exchange for public subsidies provided for affordable housing developments. The report shows how a permanent affordability requirement is a practical tool that DC could use to get ahead of tomorrow’s crisis of expiring use restrictions on affordable housing. For many years, another high-cost city, Boston, has successfully implemented a policy that requires that city funds used to create or rehabilitate affordable rental homes come with the commitment of in-perpetuity affordability.

“We commend DC Department of Housing and Community Development’s big step in this direction with the draft plan for funding allocation. Just as Boston did, DC is now incentivizing applicants to commit to an in perpetuity use restriction for their housing developments. Like Boston, we expect that DC will be able to attract proposals that take advantage of the incentive and make the permanent commitment to affordability,” Cort said.

The report addresses the main concerns that are often raised about very long term and permanent affordability – acceptance by investors, and uncertainty about attracting recapitalization funds at the end of the useful life of buildings and their systems. Boston has experienced no problems attracting investors. The city also ensures that an aging building receives the recapitalization it needs. Experts cite the similarity between Boston’s strong housing market and DC’s as the basis for attracting investors in affordable housing deals that require permanent affordability.

“This is a tool for high-cost areas,” said Leslie Steen, Senior Advisor, Wesley Housing Development Corporation, a local affordable housing developer. Steen continued, “Permanent affordability is a critical tool we need in DC to be able to keep our affordable housing stock serving low-income residents for the long term. Without it, we’ll lose more and more subsidized housing to high-priced market rates as the restrictions expire.”

Permanent affordability also helps more low-income residents become homeowners. Permanent affordability has emerged as a solution to preserve affordable for-sale homes and expand the opportunity for more lower income residents to buy. One of the key challenges in affordable homeownership program is balancing wealth creation for the homeowner while preserving affordability.

“Programs have managed to find a way to balance the legitimate desire of allowing people to get some equity while also allowing for preservation of affordability,” said Brett Theodos, Urban Institute.

Jim Steck, City First Homes, a DC-based permanently affordable homeownership organization said, “Over the course of the last several decades, the District has changed dramatically. Tools previously needed to combat disinvestment and the city’s need for growth and economic development need to be updated to respond to this reality. Permanent affordability is an important tool that can help encourage equitable development and mitigate the potential displacement of long-term residents as a result of the city’s uneven economic expansion.”

The report identified the need for the District to establish a clear shared equity policy for publicly-subsidized homeownership that balances the desire to provide the assisted homeowner with wealth-building opportunity while preserving the subsidy in the unit for the next assisted homebuyer.

“DC has the opportunity to build on solid experience from Boston, and community land trusts around the country and right here in DC. Our high-cost market demands better solutions for preserving our investments in affordable homes for low-income DC families. Bringing a permanent affordability policy to all our public investments is a practical and foresighted approach,” Cort said.

The proposed incentives for the Qualified Allocation Plan by DHCD for in perpetuity affordability terms follows the recent action by the DC Council to require in perpetuity affordability for all affordable housing built as a part of public land dispositions, and the DC Zoning Commission’s earlier ruling that requires all affordable inclusionary zoning units be affordable for the life of building.

About the Coalition for Smarter Growth

The Coalition for Smarter Growth is the leading organization in the Washington DC region dedicated to making the case for smart growth. Its mission is to promote walkable, inclusive, and transit-oriented communities, and the land use and transportation policies and investments needed to make those communities flourish. Learn more at smartergrowth.net.

###

Parking Pandemonium Hits Reston, Va.

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

Some store owners and shoppers in Reston, Va., are upset about new parking fees at Reston Town Center. Boston Properties, the town center’s managing company, introduced paid parking early this year modeled after urban transit-oriented centers. Kojo explores what’s at stake in the debate over parking in Reston and where it fits into broader discussions about “smart growth” in suburban communities.

Guests

  • Aaron Gordon Owner, Red Velvet Cupcakery; Reston Merchant’s Association; @RedVelvetReston
  • Cathy Hudgins Member, Fairfax County Board of Supervisors (D-Hunter Mill)
  • Cheryl Cort Policy Director, Coalition For Smarter Growth

Photo courtesy of heffmike. Click here to read the original story.

D.C. wants employers to pay workers not to drive to work

Posted on by Elena Sorokina

D.C. officials and transit advocates are pursuing a shift in the way employers offer commuting benefits to encourage more biking, walking and transit over solo driving.

A D.C. Council proposal would require employers who provide their employees with free or subsidized parking to give them the choice to cash out. With that option, workers would be more likely to ditch the car for a more sustainable mode of travel to work, officials say.

“I can much more easily rationalize hopping in my car and driving downtown when I got a free parking spot,” said Council member Charles Allen (D-Ward 6), a lead sponsor of the bill. “But if my employer says, we are going to give you a parking spot or we can give you transit benefits or cash if you bike to work, then I have the flexibility to make the choice that is best for me.”

The change, he said, would address a fairness issue for the workers who sometimes turn down a valuable perk because they don’t drive or who are forced to take it because otherwise they can’t get the benefit any other way.

The Transportation Benefits Equity Amendment Act of 2017 is one response to growing criticism that historically commuter benefits for drivers are better than those available to people who take other modes of transportation. For instance, a few years ago, transit agencies including Metro fought for parity in transit and parking in the federal commuter benefits program, which three years ago gave commuters the option to spend up to $130 on public transit pre-tax vs. $250 for parking. That started to change in 2015, and this year the cap for the transit benefit and the parking benefit is $255 per month.

Advocates for flexible benefits cite research suggesting that traffic congestion is associated with perks, such as free parking, and that financial incentives for non-solo drivers could help cities move toward more diverse commuting.

In the District, experts say a parking cash-out program could be part of the equation to achieve 75 percent of all trips on sustainable transportation, and it would benefit city residents the most because they are more likely to have easy access to other travel options, such as bikeshare, bus and Metro.

About 40 percent of D.C. residents drive to work, according to data from the District Department of Transportation, while 39 percent take transit, 15 percent walk and 6 percent bike.

“It reduces traffic and pollution, incentivizes a healthier commute, gives workers flexibility in their commutes, and is paid for with a parking space that’s not needed,” Cheryl Cort, policy director at the Coalition for Smarter Growth said of the legislation.

In 2014, the District joined New York and San Francisco in passing a law requiring employers with 20 or more employees to offer commuter benefits, giving thousands of workers access to the federal tax break to pay for transit and parking. Supporters say the new proposal would take the city a step further by requiring companies who subsidize parking spaces to offer an equivalent benefit to non-drivers.

[More Washington workers will get commuter benefits]

It is unclear how many companies offer free or subsidized parking, but a city survey of 191 employers in 2016 found that 34 percent offer free parking and an additional 18 percent offer a parking subsidy, according to DDOT. Free parking is the most common fringe benefit to employees across the country and in many cases employers offer free parking or nothing.

“People who walk or ride the bus get nothing. It is unfair,” said Donald Shoup, a professor at the University of California in Los Angeles, and author of “The High Cost of Free Parking”.

Research suggests that having access to subsidized parking ranks high in someone’s decision to drive to work, he said.  A survey of 5,000 commuters and their employers in downtown Los Angeles showed that free parking at work increased the number of cars driven to work by 34 percent, he said

“Employer-paid parking is an invitation to drive to work alone,” he said “The cash option rewards commuters who don’t drive to work alone. Parking cash-out therefore increases the share of commuters who carpool, ride public transit, walk, or bike to work.”

In California, legislation enacted in 1992 requires that employers with 50 or more employees who offer free parking must also give workers the option to take an equivalent cash allowance instead. But the law did not set any penalties for non-compliance.

As companies become more aware of the rule, Shoup said, they are realizing the benefits. Studies of firms in Southern California that offer parking cash-outs found the share of commuters who drove to work alone fell from 76 percent before the cash option to 63 percent afterward, he said. For every 100 commuters offered the cash option, 13 solo drivers shifted to another travel mode, he said.

That’s the kind of response the District is hoping for with its proposal. But it is unclear how the business community would respond. Supporters say they don’t anticipate any change for businesses  beyond administrative.

“When a commuter takes the cash allowance instead of free parking, the employer saves the cash paid for a parking space,” explained Shoup, who was instrumental in the creation of California’s parking cash-out law. “The employer’s avoided parking subsidy directly funds the commuter’s cash allowance, so there is no net cost to the employer when a commuter forgoes the free parking and takes the cash.”

The D.C. “cash-out law” would not prohibit or discourage employer-paid parking. It would simply require that an employer who offers to pay for parking for employees who drive to work also offer to pay the same amount to those who don’t. The District would be the first major city to have an enforceable program if the bill passes.

Read the original story here.